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Here's an update on the ending I'm experiencing due to the recent loss of my job with the church. On Friday, January 8th, I interviewed with a local community college for a position with one of their distance education campuses. The following Wednesday, I got a call back asking me to attend a second interview. I did, and was offered the job. What's more, I found that my level of experience and education put me at a salary level similar to the job that is ending. The benefits are much better, and there is the added bonus of not having to worry about whether my position will continue to be funded. For the past six years at the church, and for the almost-eight years before that at the mission, there was the almost daily worry of whether the money would hold out.

I know that the job market is tough and has been for a long time now. I know that there are lots of folks out there who have been searching for months and cannot find employment that meets their financial needs. I kno…

In 2004, William Bridges wrote Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes. The subject of the book is exactly what it seems to be; Bridges explores the changes we experience in life and how we tend to handle them. During the course of the book, Bridges suggests that before there can be a beginning, there must be an ending. In other words, something old has to stop before something new can begin. Thus the title of this post, "The Beginning in the End." And also, if you're a fan of the TV show Bones - I am - then you recognize it as a nod to the 22nd episode of the fifth season. In that episode, nearly everyone who worked together at the Jeffersonian scatters for the four corners of the earth. It is the end (seemingly) of a very successful team and partnership.

I started working at Cherokee Church in 2009. It was another beginning in an ending. My 18 year marriage was dissolving and I needed full-time work to support my kids. In order to come to Cherokee, I had to rel…